Inspired by the great popularity of rail-trails all around them, the people of Londonderry in southeast New Hampshire continue an impressive volunteer-driven effort to build a rail-trail in their community.

By the time she's a college senior, sophomore Bridgette Conboy will have a healthier option than driving or taking a shuttle bus: she will be able to bicycle or walk on a 1.3-mile rail-with-trail between North Carolina's Belmont Abbey College and the town of Belmont.

Local business leaders have joined the groundswell of support for a rail-trail project which, when complete, will run 93 miles through the communities and recreational and rural lands of northern Vermont.

After nearly two decades of dedication and perseverance, a small group of volunteers continues to make great strides in the development of the North Central Pathway, connecting two historical north-central Massachusetts towns. The committee of local citizens, formed back in 1995 to develop and promote the trail, remains active today.

The people of Putnam County in central Tennessee are getting impatient. The money is lined up and the plans have been drawn--like a child on Christmas morning, they can see the gift under the tree but have to wait a few more excruciating moments to unwrap it.

Since 1993 the Massachusetts nonprofit, Bike to the Sea, Inc., has been a solid voice for the creation of a nine-mile bike and pedestrian trail, known as the Northern Strand Community Trail, from Malden to the beaches of Lynn and Revere on the shores of Broad Sound and Nahant Bay. While the state has long recognized that a trail to the sea along the unused Saugus Branch rail line is feasible, the task of raising support, awareness and funds for the project has been left to local advocates.

Things are starting to change, thanks in part to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's (RTC) more than 20 years of advocacy and coalition building in Florida, and a dedicated community of local planners and advocates. This month, work began on a multi-use pathway alongside the Courtney Campbell Causeway, passing over Old Tampa Bay and connecting Clearwater in Pinellas County with Tampa in Hillsborough County.

Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's report, Community Built: Stories of Volunteers Creating and Caring for Their Trails, contains inspiring examples of everyday Americans across the country using their community strength to create incredible trails. It gives trail champions a reason to take heart, because across the country, stories abound of trails getting developed, extended and cared for with minimal resources.

In St. Clair County, Ill., on the outskirts of St. Louis, Mo., the county transit district continues to extend its heralded MetroBikeLink Trail, a paved, multi-use trail that provides a fast and efficient connection from local neighborhoods to the metro stations.

In 1994, Michigan businessman Fred Meijer funded the purchase of the first rail-trail right-of-way in the state. That purchase became the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail, and since then, the philanthropy of the Meijer family has made possible one of the best trail networks in America.